Athwal, Rodwell, Desai?

Councillors and others were somewhat surprised to read an article on Tuesday 7th January, asserting that Unmesh Desai AM, had been arrested and bailed. The article didn’t go into details but noted that Desai, who had formerly been a Newham councillor had now been suspended by the Labour Party and would now sit as an independent Assembly Member at City Hall. 

The article was subsequently been taken down, On London were reminded that a suspect had a right to anonymity until he was charged. A bit late, but the original article was removed.

The Labour Party and the police have been tight lipped on the subject, but we have done some digging on our own. It appears that the Labour Party have suspended Desai and Newham councillor Simon Rush has taken it upon himself to tell councillors not to talk to the press about the matter.

Because of the lack of hard evidence, a lot of the following comes under the heading of speculation, but it is speculation based upon the experiences of a number of local Labour notables recently. It begins with, who leaked the story to On London?

The suspicion is that someone wanting to harm Desai and who was aware of the suspension briefed Dave Hill, of On London about the arrest. Odds are that it is a Labour insider.

In the ‘stitch-up’ that passed as the selection process for Labour in its choice of mayoral candidate for the mayoral elections in 2022, there were half a dozen candidates who submitted their names, only two were selected for interview; Rokhsana Fiaz and Unmesh Desai.

Strangely, as we noted at the time, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party found time in her busy schedule to sit in on the interview panel. This raised a few eyebrows as she had not done this in the selection of any other mayoral or council candidate and led to speculation that her decision to be there was in some way related to Fiaz’s support of Sam Tarry (one-term MP for Ilford South) and her, (Raynor’s) relationship with Tarry.

Although the scuttlebutt was widespread, it was ultimately unprovable, and who cared, save those sad souls that had aspirations that the Labour Party in Newham might one day return to sanity.

Following the interview process, and to no-one’s surprise, Fiaz was reselected as candidate.

Although there was no surprise, there was disquiet. Fiaz had become uniquely unpopular amongst her colleagues, but given that the local constituency parties remained suspended, there was nothing that the membership could do.

Which brings us to January 2025. There is no published timetable, at least none that we can access, for the selection procedure to choose the mayoral candidate for 2026. The dates mentioned suggest that the process will begin in March 2025.

There is no indication that any of the Newham CLPs will have their suspensions lifted, so the likelihood is that the decision will be made by Labour’s NEC, again.

A number of names have been suggested as possible candidates including current and former councillors. It appears that Fiaz is intent on staying, despite the views of the local party members and despite the abysmal record she holds. The name with the greatest name-recognition amongst the other contenders is one Unmesh Desai AM.

And this is where the speculation delves into the murkier depths of Labour Party politics.

Regular readers will recall the recent events around parliamentary hopefuls Jas Athwal in Redbridge and Darren Rodwell in Barking and Dagenham.

Both of the aspiring parliamentary hopefuls had been council leaders.  If they had been content to do the hard work and let someone else ascend the slippery pole to Westminster, there would have been no problem. If they could do the work and bring in the vote, Labour would be happy.

Unfortunately, both had aspirations above their stations and within days, or even hours before the interviews were scheduled, both Athwal and Rodwell were suspended because of allegations of sexual misconduct. The misconduct was never detailed nor was the name of the person(s) alleging the misconduct.

The Labour Party acted swiftly. The two council leaders were both removed from the process. In Athwal’s case this led to the selection of Corbynite (and close personal friend of Angela Raynor) Sam Tarry; in Rodwell’s case it led to the imposition of an NEC member, Nesil Caliskan. 

Unfortunately, the exhaustive enquiries made by the Labour Party were never published. This may be because the enquiries were not that exhaustive or it may be because they had served their purpose.  The person(s) making the allegations simply withdrew them, immediately after the selection process was complete.

Within hours of the selection process finishing, these ‘very serious’ and career ending allegations simply disappeared into the ether.

Which brings us to the question of Assembly Member Desai. 

Two days after the original article was posted, we learned from On London that the police will be taking “no further action”. The case had been dropped.

Talking to councillors and party members locally, there is more than a hint of a suspicion that this is more of the dirty tricks employed by some people in the Labour Party.  In a climate where allegations can be made and withdrawn without any penalty, the only person who suffers is the individual who has had his reputation ruined. 

It is too early to say what this will mean for the mayoral selection procedure, Desai, though no longer the subject of police enquiries, remains under administrative suspension by the Labour Party. A suspended party member cannot be considered for a role as a candidate.

It might be convenient for some people if the Labour Party’s investigations concluded the day after the selection procedure ended.

If Desai is off the ballot, the biggest winner will be Fiaz. She is already said to be gleefully asserting that the ‘non-apology’ for hurt feelings and her ability to get her subordinates to pay the legal fees for her action against her own council is somehow confirmation of misogyny and racism in the council. It isn’t. 

In Newham, where Labour have dominated for decades, the most important elections are not those involving the public. Until recently, whoever Labour fielded as a candidate would be elected. Consequently, the most important elections were those taken by Labour Party members in the selection of council candidates.

With the CLPs suspended, now even the members don’t have a voice and all the decisions are taken at a regional or national level.

The widespread belief is that Desai has been targeted in an attempt to ensure that there are no credible candidates with any name-recognition to oppose Fiaz.

As to whether this can be proven, the answer must be ‘no, not yet.’ But it will be interesting to see just how long Desai’s ‘administrative suspension’ continues for and just who the Labour Party considers worthy of an interview before a candidate is imposed.

As always, if there are those in the know who would wish to contradict any of the above, (with evidence), we would be delighted to hear from you and undertake to publish any on the record evidence.